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Considering changes in implementation of the AUN/SEED-Net Phase III, AUN/SEED-Net Secretariat set up the Working Group Meeting on March 11-12, 2013 at Montien Hotel, Bangkok, Thailand in which coordinators of the member institutions who have been and will be involved in the Project implementation were invited to meet and discuss about operational matters including how to ensure smooth and efficient implementation of the activities in Phase III.

Working Group Meeting

Volume 8 Issue 4: January - March 2013 Review » Working Group Meeting » Joint Conference of Materials Engineering and Natural

Resources & Materials » CU Holds EEE Conference with ISMAC and ASEAN Energy

Focus » Biotech Merged with Chemical Engineering in Phase III » Chemical Engineering to Set Up Field Management Meeting » Mechanical, Aeronautical, Manufacturing Engineering

Combined » Pre-meeting of the Advisory Committee Overseeing U-I

Collaboration » Staff Change » Upcoming Events

There were 47 participants from 26 member institutions and the AUN/SEED-Net Secretariat attended the Meeting. The Chairman of the Meeting was Prof. Dr. Andi Isra Mahyuddin from Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB). From five agendas, the first day of the Meeting started with Overview of Phase III and Concept of Field Management before moving to Annual Plan, Supporting Programs, University-Industry Collaboration, and other AUN/SEED-Net Activities; while the topics of Regular Monitoring Visit by AUN/SEED-Net and JICA were discussed on the second day. The Meeting ended with Q&A session for the new member institutions.

The changes were precisely explained and the discussion during the two days of the meeting was fruitful. As a result, the participants had clearer perspective of how the Phase III is functioned.

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Volume 8 Issue 4

Chulalongkorn University (CU) held on February 4-5, 2013 the 5th AUN/SEED-Net Regional Conference in Electrical & Electronics Engineering (RC-EEE) jointly with ISMAC 2013 and ASEAN Energy Focus with participation from as many as 152 participants. Forty-nine papers were presented, including eight from keynote speakers from Japan.

The conference received additional funding from Department of Electrical Engineering of CU, Energy Research Institute of CU, and National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) of Thailand. As for technical support, it received generous cooperation from Hokkaido University, Tokyo City University, University of the Philippines-Diliman (UPD), IEEE Thailand Section Signal Processing Society, and Asia Pacific Signal and Information Processing Association (APSIPA).

CU Holds EEE Conference with ISMAC and ASEAN Energy Focus

During the meeting, participants learned about an overview and activities of AUN/SEED-Net’s Phase III and discussed the formulation of consortium, academic network, or research network among Member Institutions which should be sustained after Phase III. Asst. Prof. Supavadee Aramvith of CU gave a presentation on achievements of the Elecrical Engineeing Department in international collaboration. Some of the activities were related to the ASEAN community and AUN/SEED-Net, such as the CU scholarship for ASEAN Students and joint collaboration among Tokyo Institute of Technology - Hokkaido University - UPD - CU.

Attached with the event, CU also organized the Panel Discussion on Establishing Linkage with Industries featuring Prof. Mohd Zaid Abdullah from Universiti Sains Malaysia, Prof. Zaad from Universiti Malaya, Prof. Tumiran from Universitas Gadjah Mada, Prof. Rowena Christina L. Guevara from UPD, Prof. Prasit Prapinmongkolkarn from CU and former NBTC chairman, and Prof. David Banjerdpongchai and Prof. Tuptim Angkaew from CU.

The 5th Regional Conference in Materials Engineering and the 5th Regional Conference in Natural Resources & Materials took place as a joint conference in Penang, Malaysia, on January 22-23, 2013. It was hosted by Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) with 122 participants including local researchers, AUN-SEED/Net students in USM, and a representative from Malaysian Rubber Board. Moreover, the conference was co-sponsored and attended by eight private companies such as Ultimate Engineering Technique (M) Sdn. Bhd.

In this event, 71 papers were presented including eight keynote presentations by Prof, Tsutomu Takeichi and Prof. Umemoto Minoru, Toyohashi University of Technology (TUT); Prof. Naoki Hiroyoshi and Prof. Toshifumi Igarashi, Hokkaido University; Prof. Tsuyoshi Hirajima and Prof. Kunio Ishikawa, Kyushu University; Senior Personnel, Lynas Malaysia Sdn. Bhd.; and Dr. Yang Yan Yong, Technical Director, Spectroscopy Products, Renishaw.

Joint Conference of Materials Engineering and Natural Resources & Materials

In the discussion session, AUN/SEED-Net provided information of Phase III including changes and new activities. Asst. Prof. Prayoon Shiowattana, Executive Director of AUN/SEED-Net, provided general information of the University - Industry Collaboration Seminar and invited representatives of USM and Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB) to share more details.

Moreover, AUN/SEED-Net shared the information and objectives of the new field management system with host institutions - USM, ITB, and Universiti Malaya (UM) as well as Japanese main field supporting university - TUT. Many comments would be brought up to the 1st Field Management Meeting, tentatively scheduled in June 2013.

Institute of Technology of Cambodia will host the Materials Engineering conference, exact date to be fixed.

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Volume 8 Issue 4

Mechanical/Aeronautical Engineering and Manufacturing Engineering would be combined in the next phase of AUN/SEED-Net, resulting in the new field name - Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering.

The combination was announced to 75 participants of the 5th Regional Conference on Mechanical and Aerospace Technology under the theme “Building Education Network for the Future Development”, organized by Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok on February 12 - 13, 2013. Among these participants, there were 20 from

Mechanical, Aeronautical, Manufacturing Engineering Combined

member institutions, five Japanese professors, two alumni, two PhD Japan and one PhD Singapore students, local participants, and interested parties. Five plenary lectures were given by Prof. Akihiko Azetsu and Prof. Yoshio Yamamoto from Tokai University, Prof. Hideo Yoshida from Kyoto University, Prof. Shinnosuke Obi and Prof. Hideki Aoyama from Keio University. A total of 60 papers were presented.

Though omitted from the new field name, Aeronautical Engineering remains as a sub-topic of the field. The next conference was planned in November, co-organized by Universiti Malaya and Universiti Sains Malaysia. Its duration might be extended to cover a larger number of papers from the three areas.

Chemical Engineering to Set Up Field Management MeetingHost institutions and Japanese field coordinating universities in Chemical Engineering field met after the 5th Regional Conference in Chemical Engineering, planning to set up the 1st Field Management Meeting in April.

The 5th Regional Conference in Chemical Engineering took place in Pattaya, Thailand between February 7 and 8, 2013. The conference went on fruitfully with 56 papers orally presented and ideas exchanged among researchers and students. The number of participants was approximately 80, of which 30 were from outside the network including industries e.g. PTT Global Chemical and Bayer which also co-sponsored the conference.

Following the second day of the conference was Pre-Field Management Meeting, which was participated by representatives from two host institutions including De La Salle University and Universiti Malaya, and three Japanese field coordinating universities namely Tokyo Institute of Technology, Kyoto University, and University of Tokyo. The meeting started with briefing on the concept of Field Management System and concluded that they would meet again at the 1st Field Management Meeting in the Chemical Engineering field on April 19, 2013 in order to set up the annual operation plan of the field.

Biotech Merged with Chemical Engineering in Phase IIIThe 5th Regional Conference in Biotechnology took place in Bandung, Indonesia between January 23 and 24, 2013. The conference was the last in the Biotechnology area in the AUN/SEED-Net scheme as it will be merged with Chemical Engineering field in Phase III.

The conference went on fruitfully with more than 60 papers presented and ideas exchanged among researchers and students. The number of participants was approximately 80, of which 30 were from non-AUN/SEED-Net members. During the meeting there was an active discussion on possible participation of interested parties outside the network, which has been welcomed despite no financial support from AUN/SEED-Net.

Although it was the last conference in this area, the audiences were requested to continue research cooperation. And from the next phase the Biotechnology researchers could join conferences and activities in any related areas such as Chemical Engineering, Environmental Engineering, and Energy.

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June 21, 2013 AUN/SEED-Net University - Industry Collaboration Seminar “Innovation through U-I Collaboration in Light of AEC” @ Bangkok, ThailandAugust 22-23, 2013 Regional Conference on Computer & Information Engineering @ Bangkok, Thailand (http://kseednet.kmitl.ac.th/rccie-2013)November 15, 2013 AUN/SEED-Net 20th Steering Committee Meeting & Year 2013 Annual Meeting @ Vientiane, Lao PDR

Upcoming Events Find updated schedule at http://www.seed-net.org/calendar.php

Staff Change

Ms. Kanchana Patanasakdikul, Senior Program Officer of Research & Network Promotion Unit, resigned from the AUN/SEED-Net Project on February 28, 2013. Her tasks have been transferred to other unit members.

Ms. Siriporn Rungrueangtanya, Assistant Unit Chief of Planning & Capacity Development Unit, quitted the Project on March 31, 2013. Her duties have been handed over to the unit members.

Ms. Par ichart Thammajinda, Assistant Unit Chief of Research & Network Promotion Unit, left the Project from March 31, 2013. Her responsibilities have been shared to other unit members.

Mr. Tokumitsu Kobayashi has been appointed as Unit Chief of Research & Network Promotion Unit with effect from March 2013 onwards.

Volume 8 Issue 4

As University-Industry (U-I) collaboration is one of the main objectives of AUN/SEED-Net Phase III, an advisory committee was formed to specifically oversee this matter. The committee consists of four members who are JICA experts and representatives from the industry, with Asst. Prof. Prayoon Shiowattana as a chairperson.

On January 25, 2013, AUN/SEED-Net held a pre-meeting of the committee at Alumni Meeting Room, Sasa International House, Chu la longkorn Un ive r s i t y , Thailand, to initiate discussion on the direction of U-I collaboration. The committee members plus 12 observers from JICA and AUN/SEED-Net attended the meeting.

One of the important agendas during the meeting was the U-I collaboration seminar to be held on June 21, 2013 at Arnoma Hotel in Bangkok, Thailand. The seminar will feature three keynote speakers from the industry in Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia; and a panel discussion from the perspective of academicians. The seminar is open to the public, free of charge.

Pre-meeting of the Advisory Committee Overseeing U-I Collaboration

The meeting also discussed in detail the basic strategy o f U - I c o l l a b o r a t i o n promotion activities and the activity plan under the U-I collaboration programs. Two activities mentioned during the meeting are Intensive Course on Management of Technology (MOT) and U-I

Linkage Promotion Training, both of which are to be conducted in Japan. The guidelines of MOT will be announced in April 2013 while those of U-I linkage Promotion Training will be announced in June 2013.

All discussions in the meeting would be drafted into an action plan as a guideline for implementation in the future.